The good news about cough medicines is that while they might not work, they’re unlikely to hurt. “If you take a cough medicine as prescribed, the odds of having any problems are pretty small,” Edelman tells WebMD.
Heffner says that the mildly riskier drugs are the decongestants that might be included in some cold and cough medicines. For instance, pseudoephedrine is a stimulant and might be dangerous for people with heart problems or uncontrolled high blood pressure. But the cough medicines themselves should be safe when taken as recommended. The problem is that not everyone takes them that way.
“Virtually all of the problems and side effects from over-the-counter cold and flu medicines are from overdoses,” Edelman says.
You might not think of yourself as the sort of person likely to overdose on a drug. But it may be easier than you expect.
“Often, overdosing is completely accidental,” says Edelman. One cause: people taking different cold and flu remedies at the same time without looking at the ingredients. While the brand names may be different, they may be getting double doses of the same ingredients.
Other times, it’s more deliberate. People may knowingly take doses that are too high. But that’s not necessarily because they’re trying to abuse the drug. They may just be trying to get rid of their cough. One dose doesn’t help, so they try another. Edelman says it’s not uncommon for people to overdose on medicines that don’t work very well precisely because they don’t work very well.
“If a medicine is only marginally effective, people just keep taking more and more, trying to get an effect,” Edelman says.
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